Altered States of Consciousness & Drug Use In Religion
Kara, Guy, Tainah, Nicole, Savannah
What Is An Altered State Of Consciousness?
Meditation
An altered state of consciousness is any state of mind that differs from one's normal state. An altered state of mind can include trance or meditative thought and it can be reached through drug use or other methods. Rave culture is an example of modern practices of altered states of consciousness in the West.
- Chod/gcod (Cho): tantric ritual practice, primarily found in Tibetan Buddhism
- A meditation practice method
- Practitioner can increase bodhicitta; cut attachment (cutting through the Ego)
Anthropological Significance of Trance
- Functions to sustain women's social position in society and to reinforce the gender complementarity in place.
- Matrilineal descent utilized.
- Recognizes female regenerative capacity.
Trance
- Can be the result of drug usage or spirit possession
- It is a semi-awareness of the surrounding environment but a heightened spiritual or internal sentience
- May function to heal illness, to ensure fertility of crops and women, or to ensure the overall well-being of the society.
Meditation
- Tibetan Buddhist monks congregate to perform said ritual
- Individual experience performed with a group
- Transcends individuality to join the whole (of society)
- Can be seen as, or likened to, a rite of passage
The Spiritual Side of Drug Use
Trance Ceremony Among The Punu
- Indigenous and shamanistic religions use entheogenic drugs to contact the divine as part of their rituals
- Don't need to be a part of a religion in order to have a spiritual experience
- Water spirits possess the women in order to ensure the fertility of the women/crops.
- Ritual singing and dancing are utilized to mimic and welcome the spirits into the womens' bodies.
- Only women participate in these ceremonies.
Project Roles
Rave Culture: A Modern Religion
Kara: Created presentation, researched information on trance
Guy: Researched information on meditation
Savannah: Researched information on rave culture
Nicole: Researched information on drug use
Tainah: Researched view on drug use & ASC in American culture and their cultural implications
Trance and the Western Rave "Religion"
- By definition religion is “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs” (Dictionary).
- Through an anthropological lens – religion is a reflection of the underlying ideals of a society.
- The rave culture seen in today’s societies can be viewed a sort of religion for the young adults growing up in the modern world.
- In the industrialized West, usually (but not always) young people… gather in large number, ideally outdoor, and dance passionately for many hours under the sounds of extremely loud repetitive electronic music, often under the influence of drugs.
Religious Drug Use
Music, Drugs, and Religion?
- Evidence suggests that certain special qualities of both the sound and the drugs can produce perceptual changes, and thus may facilitate an encounter with the transcendental.
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- These two factors – music and drugs – which are seen by members of such countercultural groups as crucial in altering their normal state of being and creating a feeling of ecstasy that is a mystical experience which by some may be interpreted as a religious one (Papadimitropoulos).
- Most origins are lost in pre-history
- Cannabis - Hindu Gurus & Middle Eastern Sufis
- Salvia Divinorum & Psilocybin Mushrooms - Oaxaca region of Mexico
- Ayahuasca - Amazonian Indians
- "Fly Agaric" Mushrooms - Shamans in Europe & Russia
- Peyote - Mexican & North American Indians
- Leaves of Kratom Tree - Thailand & Bali
- Opium - China
- Kykeon - Ancient Greece
Alternative Medicine
- "Any of a range of medical therapies that are not regarded as orthodox by the medical profession, such as herbalism, homeopathy, and acupuncture."
- Many cultures have practiced alternative medicine for centuries
- Alternative medicine on the rise in the United States
Trance
Sources
- Trance states are institutionalized and form a part of the religious life of the people so concerned.
- There, it appears that trance, induced naturally or chemically with certain drugs is related to possession by spirits and deities, and thus is an instrument of ritualistic and religious.
"The Spirit's Wish: Possession Trance And Female Power Among The Punu Of Congo-Brazzaville" by Carine Plancke.
http://fieldwork-on-tibetan-buddhism.blogspot.com/2010/12/chod.html
(2014, March 9). [Radio broadcast].NPR.
http://lightworkers.org/blog/91086/drug-use-religion
Eastern vs. Western Medical Drug Use
- Most common Eastern medicine is Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Western medicine focuses a great deal on pharmaceuticals